as you can hear, their hit song there. >> brian: i've seen them play. they are unbelievable. >> steve: they're awesome. that's tomorrow. brian, have a great vacation. >> okay. i will. i'll be thinking about you guys. bill: we have been waiting for this day for a long time. house republican leaders heading into their latest closed door meeting at the moment as we await a vote on speaker boehner's debt plan. will it pass a critical test? >> we are losing our sovereignty and control based upon our spending policies. tax increases aren't the answer that kills job creation and slows economic growth. and it doesn't solve the problem. it comes back down to mr. will congress cut spngd or not. we have shown how much we are willing to cut. we shown we'll fix the problem

with our budget. bill: there is this word called compromise starting to flow through congress because it's getting late. i'm bill hemmer. welcome to america's newsroom. alisyn: i'm alisyn camerota in for martha maccallum. alisyn: many republicans say the cuts don't go far enough. many democrats are also threatening to kill the bill. bill: boehner's plan will cut spending the next 10 years. it will raise the debt limit by 900 billion immediately. report require's a crucial and important day in the tenure of speaker boehner's short tenure as speaker. his bill which is dubbed the

budget control act of 2011 will come to the house floor for debate and a vote. last night the house rules committee set up the parameters for how this debate will be conducted. >> i have been through countless increases in the debt ceiling in the three decades i have been privileged to serve here and we have seen increases take place many years before that. never before in the history of the republic have we seen a debt ceiling vote take place with actually is focused on getting at the root cause of why it is that the debt ceiling needs to be increased. >> reporter: this debate will come in two installments. the rule will be debated -- this is crucial. if this fails that means for all intent and purposes the boehner bill is dead. what is the prediction here? just too close to call. yesterday afternoon -- straight yesterday afternoon speaker

boehner called his caucus into a closed door section in which he implored all of them to get their a's in line. the democrats have theirs in line. listen to debbie wasserman-shultz. this is like a dictatorship. i know they are forced their outcome upon their extremists. they would like to impose. they are getting ready to spark and pick and chaos. they seem to be okay with that. this is days pointing and potentially devastating. that's the head of debbie wasserman-shultz, head of the dnc. bill: alisyn and i referring to that phrase from boehner, get your rears in gear. it's a critical, critical day. alisyn: we are paraphrasing. the senate democrats saying boehner's bill will not go anywhere in the senate. the congressional budget office

claims the majority leader harry reid's plan will save three times for than the house plan. reid seems confident the house will work its way through this. >> magic things can happen in congress in a short piece of time. that's a flaws piece of legislation. no one believes that. the chamber of commerce put out a letter saying vote for it. they know it doesn't solve the problems. nobody believes the boehner problem is anything more than a wet kiss to the trite wing. alisyn: reid's plan would cut $2.7 trillion over 10 years and that counts the savings from ending the wars in iraq and afghanistan. it raises the debt limit by $2.4 trillion in one step and that is an increase larger that boehner plan. and just like the boehner plan, no tax hikes. bill: also as we watch what's

happening in congress, we should get new reaction on this daily press briefing. we'll watch that, listen and bring you all the breaking details when that happens. also john boehner just walked into this republican meeting. so we are watching to see if there is any comments from him. yesterday we were expecting comments when it concluded an walked right by that microphone. alisyn: today of course we'll keep an eye on the closed door meeting and let you know when it breaks up. bill: there he is. does he have nothing to share at the moment? it was that meeting yesterday that lasted about an hour and a half and that's when things got a little tense and heated. and boehner and eric cantor delivered their message to the republicans in the house. let's goes. in order for me to do my job i have to get something here. watch that meeting today. alisyn: you talk about what the stock market is doing. yesterday it took a big hit

closing down almost 200 points. it was the 4th straight day of losses. let's bring in stuart varney to help us understand this. will the market go down again, stu? >> in general terms nobody will be prepared to forecast where the stock market will go. it's like october of 2008 when there was a decision in the house, do we bail out wall street or don't we. there was a profound reaction on wall street when that vote came in. in general terms, here is what you can say. if we get a deal -- if a deal looks likely by this weekend, the stock market will probably go up. quite sharply. if we do not get a deal at all, nothing is on the table by that next week's deadline you can expect the stock market to go down quite sharply. those are generalized expectations for stocks, but i think they are realistic. here is the news of the day. as of this morning, a letter went out from the chief executives of all the big wall

street firms. that letter went out to every member of congress. everybody on capitol hill. it was a plea. get a deal done. do not default. second news item. if you look at the futures market, that's an indication of how the market is likely to hop. a very important day watching that vote in the house. futures point slightly higher after the big slide. there you have it, alisyn. bill: there is an alarming report on what it could mean if we lose our triple aaa credit rating. that goes right to interest rates. some analysts now saying that it could cost us $100 billion a year in interest alone. a double a rating would put nuts same break the as countries like slovenia, spain and chile which are wonderful places to visit, by the way. alisyn: we have the entire debt debate covered from all angles. we'll hear from both sides on

this issue. first a nor reacts to the democrat's plan to kill the bill. then new jersey congressman will weigh in on today's expected house vote. ron paul talks to us about why the debt plan is dividing the party and how he will vote on the boehner plan. bill: after this blistering statement from former tea party candidate. she is lashing out as arizona senator john mccain saying he's promoting a tax on tea party activists and he quote threw her into the harbor along with his former v.p. pick sarah palin. quoting a "wall street journal" article, railing dense tea party demands in the debt debate. >> the idea seems to be that if

the house gop refuses to raise the debt ceiling a default crisis store gradual government shutdown will ensue and the public will turn en masse against barack obama. then democrats would have no choice but to pass a balanced budget amendment and reform entitlements and the tea party hobbits could return to middle earth having defeated morgor. bill: charlie hertz, how you doing? what was nor mccain up to there? >> i have absolutely no idea. with a guy like john mccain you never do know these things. it's one thing for the "wall street journal" to pick apart the different plans. john mccain has always had a very, very tough relationship with the tea party. the on thing that he has ever done that they have ever liked

is pick sarah palin as his running-mate. and the more we find out about it, we find out that he stumbled into that lucky decision. referring to them as hobbits and calling their demand bizarre, who knows what he's possibly up to. bill: sharron angle just put out a statement. as in the table it's the hobbits who are the heroes and save the land. this lord of the tarp should join forces with the tea party and not criticize it. >> that's the great thing -- there is always hope among the hobbits. there is always hope they will take it to the end of the earth and they will still be there. and i think to their chagrin, senator mccain is not going away anytime soon either. bill: i don't think this is the end of this. it may be just beginning,

charlie. thanks for coming in. nice to see you. 11 minutes past the hour. alisyn: those are a few of the many stories that we are following this morning in america's newsroom. coming up we have a lot more. sarah palin is heading to iowa. is thee heading for president? the latest sign her decision is on the way. we fell yesterday significantly, investors reacting to this debt debate. also the jobs numbers out. we'll measure the impact on our economy. then there is this from the northeast. the biggest thing i have ever seen in the water. i had to be part of swimming with it. alisyn: that fisherman taking one wild ride on a shark. we'll take you the incredible video. sweetie i think you need a little extra fiber in your diet.

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alisyn: at least one u.s. soldier has been arrested for allegedly planning another attack on fort hood. one awol soldier is in police custody. he was not captured on the post at forward hood. another source saying two other u.s. soldiers were also arrested earlier today, found to be in possession of weapons and explores yiferls. it's unclear if the alleged plot was merely aspirational. in november of 2009, major nadal hassan carried out a shooting attack on fort hood. bill: weekly job numbers just in. the number of americans filing first-time unemployment claims dropping below 400,000 for the first time since last april.

economic growth across the country is moving at a snail's pace. the former economic advisor for president reagan. >> i'm 5'6" and i have hair on the top of my feet, i guess i'm a hobbit. bill: that's too much information. on the jobs number what do you take away from it? >>' not great news but it's surely better than when it went down. we need that further. we need that number well below 398,000. >> at this time in his administration bill clinton was created 400,000 jobs per month. ronald reagan was creating huge numbers of jabs per month. barack obama's economy of is not doing well. bill: 7 of 12 banks across the

country say in the months of june and july we reached slower growth. are we already in a double dip recession? >> i don't know if it's double dip but it's a very, very slow growth. we are having the worst single recovery since the great depression. there is no sign as of yet that it's going to get better. the stock market is not indicating a better one. nothing in the economy shows it's better and there is no reason why it should be better because no policies have been put in that would make it better. they are not going to control government spending and cut tax. they are not going to reduce the wedge between what it costs to employ a work and what that worker receives. until they do that you are not going to get a recovery. bill: if you get a downgrade, what's the impact? >> the question is we'll get a downgrade because of our budget

deficit, not because of the debt ceiling. the debt ceiling may be the proximate source. we have a spending problem pure and simple. until congress -- the republicans and the democrats and the president start cutting spending, it's just isn't going to happen. bill: do you like what you see in the house? if you were to get that deal passed? >> sure, i would vote for the house bill in a heartbeat and i would vote for the little rock bill in a heartbeat. i would vote for both of them. i don't see what the big deal is. it's only $800 billion. that's a start. for harry reid, the $2.2 trillion. that's start. both of them do it without raising taxes. and i like that. i don't see why they aren't already in agreement. bill: what you are saying then if the boehner bill as it reads now passes, then it goes to the

senate. it could be reconciled with the senate bill and you could have a deal done by tuesday. >> i could reconcile it in a heartbeat. i don't understand the democrats in the house. by splitting the difference. let's make it $1.5 trillion and get the darn thing done. bill: what are you trying to say about the house democrats? >> the house democrats are trying to hold boehner hostage by not voting for his. why wouldn't they want an $800 billion increase in the debt ceiling to support their? they do want more. but this is a start. why not pass this one and gets the whole process going? no, the democrats won't vote with boehner come hell or high water, and the republicans in the senate. it's crazy. let many just get it done. bill: you may get your wish in the coming 12 hours. art, nice to see you.

and stake -- and take care. art laffer. go to foxnews.com/americasnewsroom. you can shoot me an email hemmer@foxnews.com. also on twitter. you have no excuse. because you asked. bya. hammer with an "e." alisyn: there has been a major development in the court challenge to president obama's healthcare law. we'll tell you what happened and how much it will affect you. [ male announcer ] there's more than one

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alisyn: a petition filed yesterday asking supreme court justices to take up the case. this follows a split court appeals decision upholding the insurance requirement. this sets the stage for a posse threks year showdown over the president's signature initiative. here to discuss it is the executive director for the center for american law and justice. explain the significance of what happened at the supreme court yesterday. >> this is the first appeal out of all the obama-care litigation. there are 30 cases around the country. we have an early to -- we have an oral argument in one.

one of three options. we'll find this out not until october. but we'll know in october first the court can take the case. even though there is no other circuit court opinion, they can say it's such a big issue we need to decide this for all of the country. we don't have wait on the 4th circuit or the 11th circuit. it's something we need to pay a lot of attention to. and that's the supreme court holding this and saying we want to wait until we see some of these other circuit courts weigh in. the 4th circuit court could be out at any moment. the 11th circuit may be a bit longer but certainly before the end of the summer. if one of those says obama-care is unconstitutional then it's likely the supreme court will hear at case. the question will be will they get to it in their winter term? will they hear it in february or march and that would mean we would have an opinion before the 2012 election. alisyn: is the biggest sticking

point the requirement that every american by dint of being born must purchase health insurance? >> the individual mandate section 1502 of healthcare penalizes americans for doing nothing. it never happened before at the federal level. it's a huge constitutional issue. we saw the first conservative judge, a bush nominee break away and say he thought it was constitutional. he was a federalist society guy. it's getting a bit more difficult to predict where the justices may go. what a perfect time to be talking about obama-care. you want this congress to be handling your healthcare because that's what it means under obama-care. imagine if president obama can give a speech saying if you don't raise taxes and don't give me more money, i don't know if you will be able to pay for my grandma's surgery next week. that's the real danger. does the federal government have to the power to do this to the

american people? alisyn: let's say the supreme court hype threatically were to rule that element of the law unconstitutional. is the entire law overturned? you * not necessarily. what we have seen from the conservative judges from the district court level, they believe in the full analysis that it's very difficult to keep the laugh afloat. one twhribs no servability clause. if any part of the law falls any judge could say it's all done no matter what. the supreme court could also say even though the individual mandate is the main economic powerhouse behind the obama-care, it don't exist financially without the individual mandate, the nuns don't work out without the penalties. they could say congress needs to come up with another funding mechanism and then this is okay. it may mean the whole thing falls. if the supreme court upholds the individual mandate unconstitutional i think all of obama-care is gone. but a lot of legal battles to

go. alisyn: thanks so much for coming in with the explanation. bill: news out of northboundway. we are hearing from the security cheever of that country saying anders breivik responsible for killing more than 70 last friday was a lone wolf. despite the fact that he has been telling police there are more cells out there and more people who believe in what he carried out and more attacks could possibly be on the way. the security chief says he's a lone wolf and the incarnation of total evil. we are looking for more on his out of oslo. we have a crew on scene and when we get more information we'll pass its along to you. that country of 5 million struggles to figure out why this happened. anders breivik called a lone wolf after the claims he made this past weekend. alisyn: cameras were rolling

when a daret decided he wanted -- when a daredevil decided he wanted to swim with a shark. is this brave or just crazy. bill: you are decide. house republicans meeting at the moment. he said get your rear in gear or something like that. we expect a vote today on the boehner bill. which republican senator john barraso will join us to say whether he supports that idea back in a few moments. are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today.

alisyn: we are awaiting details from that house gop closed door debt meeting. those are the doors. the microphone is sets up. if anything comes out of it, we'll let you know. we are also expecting a vote on speaker boehner's debt plan later today. senate democrats coming out saying it will not pass. some even sending a letter to boehner saying we heard in your caucus the senate said it will support your bill. we are writing to tell you we'll not support it. it would face us to face the threat of defail in five or six short months. john barrasso is the chairman of the republican conference. that letter from 53 senate democrats to john boehner sounds like this bill is dead on

arrival in the senate. is it? >> i don't think it is. it sounds like the democrat senators are doing the bidding of the obama reelection campaign. remember what the president said last week. he said the only bottom line i have, the only bottom line the president has he said is to extend the debt limit beyond the 2012 elections. i think the president is putting his own reelection bid above the things the american people are concerned about. the american people are concerned about jobs, the economy, the debt and the spending. and i support boehner's plan because it does the two fundamental things i'm concerned about. it prevents a default and it cuts spending. alisyn: senator, there are competing plans. in the senate put out his own plan. that pushes off the debate until after the 2012 elections. the john boehner bill has this debate again in less than a year. do you want to be in this

position again in under a year? >> they race race -- they raisee debt ceiling several times. what the president should be focused on is the debt. that's what will cause a downgrade in bond ratings in the united states. it many the debt the american people are concerned about. we continue to spend more than we have, and you can't continue to do that. we need to balance the budget in this country. the president talks about a balanced approach, we need a balanced budget amendment to the constitution. alisyn: the boehner plan cuts $9 billion from the deficit over the next 10 years, is that enough for you? >> i would like to have more reduction. would i like a bigger number. whatever happens in the next

couple days and whatever is signed into law, that's round one. we'll continue to look for ways to cut the spending, to get the spend under control. we have won the argument that we have to cut spending. none of these plans have a tax increase in them which i think is very important. to not raise taxes on anyone when we have 9.2% unemployment. we need to get people back to work. alisyn: neither the harry reid plan senator john boehner plan raises taxes. it sounds like these plans are similar and you are close. do you think there will be a deal before august 2? >> i believe we'll do the responsible thing and make sure that we do not default before august 2. i'm optimistic about that. i want to work together. i want to find ways that will cut more spending. i like the impact of the house to say for every dollar they want the debt ceiling increased there will be at least a dollar if not more of reduction in

spending. alisyn: we shall see what happens in the house today. thank you for joining us. what does the new possible debt limit mean for you? you can go to our web site foxnews.com and click on the debt calculator link. and you can enter your annual gross income and you can calculate your share of the debt. bill: you have been warned, right? we have a fox news alert. the bank ceos in america earlier today warning of grave consequences if no debt deal is reached the. some of the biggest banks in the country, jpmorgan, goldman sachs, bank of america warning that and pressuring the white house and congress to reach a deal on the debt ceiling say the consequences would be quote very grave. yesterday the financial stocks traded considerably lower. the pressure on the ceos,

pressure on the shareholders. so we'll see whether we announce it right now. 14 points in the early minutes of trading. so a guy goes fishing and he decides to ride the back of a shark. i'm not making this up. he even had his buddy recorded the moment of courage. or stupidity. here is the shark cowboy without a saddle. he says he rode it 15 feet. turns out it was a baskin shark, one of the largest in the ocean. why did he do it? >> it came right up next to the boats. i have the utmost respect for the ocean and all its creatures. would i never harm a shark. i felt very comfortable with him around the boat. we didn't try to scare it off. we weren't trying to harm it. i had to get in and swim with the shark. it had to be done. i live, breathe, eat, dream

shark and tuna fish. that many my life. d that's my life. bill: the national aquarium in d.c. and the discovery channel shark advisor. do youd do you advise this? >> absolutely not. there is not anything this shark would do to potentially attack this guy. bill: you are saying he was operating in a safe zone. >> with this shark yes. whether he knew what see seals of shark it was when he jumped into the water we don't know. sharks are not out to eat humans but i don't encourage this sort of of thing when engaging in fishing activities.

sharks are very strong. a lot of muscle and they can provide a powerful bite if they feel threatened. in this case was a safe encounter with an animal. bill: have you heard of this before? >> certainly around the world people do get in the water with large sharps. there is a lot of opportunities in the caribbean. snorkleing. there is opportunities to go scuba diving in the caribbean. these are great activities. it gets people up close and personal with sharks and that does change their perception. bill: he's got a story. >> he sure does. bill: he lives up in massachusetts, by the way. alisyn: that could be like a giant goldfish. moving on. there are concerns this morning of a different terror threat facing our country.

what the top commander of special ops is saying about the future of al qaeda. bill: where sarah palin is headed, and whether that signals to the answer to that ultimate question for 2012. [ male announcer ] walls can talk. but it's our job to make them say something interesting. so how about this weekend we learn some new tricks of the trade... then break out our doing clothes and get rolling. let's use some paint that helps us get the job done

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alisyn: the fbi is joining the search for a missing new hampshire grader who disappeared monday. police say they found news of a struggle. lawyers for the man wrongly accused of beating a giants fans outside dodger stadium asking the judge to let the man out of jail. police recently charged two other men in the brutal beating of bryan stow.

bill: sarah palin is going back to iowa. she'll be the keynote speaker at a major tea party event in early september which is raising the question yet again whether she is one step closer to 2012. tucker carlson the editor of the "daily caller," christopher hanna former aide to chuck shierm and a democratic strategist. tucker, she in or not? >> it's hard to see it. she still has her tv job. a couple of her staffers are signed up with the speaker's bureau. her movie didn't do well. she is being out polled by michele bachmann. she has nothing significant to say about the debt ceiling debate and she hasn't hired a campaign staff. that isn't the profile of a presidential candidate. i would be lying if i said i know. but this is not the look of

someone who is gearing up for a presidential campaign. bill: chris, do you receive it the same way? >> she has been riding the back of the shark that is the national media for a long time. she is gaining a lot of attention. she is probably the most beloved republican figure regardless of what the polls say and the party risks a 76 ford-reagan situation. you can see the party having a mal air, se and hand can the election to president obama. bill: her supporters would argue she is the perfect contrast to obama. early september is when this event happens. september 3. i know we talked a lot about at what point you get in or make a decision not to get in. but you have to have organization, you look at a guy like mitt romney, he has been

running for three years. do you see evidence she has set up the organization that's required in iowa or new hampshire or south carolina? >> no, and we looked carefully. on the other hand, people say you have to be in by early september. there is a great deal of evidence there is dissatisfaction with this field. i think a strong candidate could get in late october and raise the money online and put together a jury-rigged campaign structure. bill: why do you think that? historically that would be super late. one thing is obvious. you can raise a lot of money real fast online. >> the thing about sarah palin is she has got this national base that none of the other candidates have. there are people who are really

moved by her. she attracts huge crowds. i'm excited to see sarah palin run, i think she would be the best candidate for to us take on next year because i think she is such a devisive figure within the party. she would have to moderate some of her positions to appeal to the independent voters. bill: to both of your points, when she was on that east coast tour. she didn't tell anybody where she was going. she just showed up and people followed her. there was an extraordinary thing to see. candidate put out their schedule weeks in advance. this is where i'll be, i'll have a stage set up for you, come on out and say hello. >> there is no question she has magnetic appeal and no mat wear she does the press will cover it. the debt debate is revealing. this is the one thing that matters is the debate that end next week august 2. what is her position on that?

she hasn't weighed in in a meaningful way in this debate. that tells me she is not as of today putting together a campaign. but what do i know? >> the criticism of her is she doesn't weigh in in a meaningful way on many things. she does a lot of platitudes and talking points. but i haven't seen any specific plan to get this economy moving in the right direction. bill: that many whether she is in alaska or not. chris, thank you, tucker, thank you. fox news along with the washington "examiner" brings you the first televised iowa presidential debate thursday august 11. on on the fox news channel. all you need to know about 2012 is on your web site. the latest on the candidates, their campaigns. foxnews.com/aehq for you.

alisyn: senate leaders are in a closed door meeting. if there is no deal by next week, will people still get their social security checks? e-reader for textbooks. gps. video camera for lectures. game pad. have you considered this ? it's got all tha and more than 200,000 apps. technology to learn and play on-the-go. only at verizon. android powered. playstation certified. the xperia play by sony ericsson. only $99.99. [ female announcer ] somhing unexpected to the world of multigrain... taste. ♪ delicious pringles multigrain. with a variety of flavors, multigrain pops with pringles. [ slap! slap! slap! slap! slap! ] [ male announcer ] your favorite foods fighting you?

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bill: alex trebek snapped his achilles tendon while chasing a burglar out of his hotel room. police say the suspect broke in, tried to make off with jewelry and cash. trebek helped security catch her despite the injury. >> i knew immediately what happened.

the snap and the sound, i knew right away. i said, oh, gosh. but i called security immediately and gave them a good description of the woman and they got her. so we got most of our stuff back except for the one piece of jewelry that i ever wear, a bracelet my mother gave me many years ago within that's gone, and the cash. bill: good man. alisyn: too bad it's the one with the sentimental value. bill: it also injured his knee in the process. alisyn: we are going to tell you about severe weather. tropical storm don is bearing down on the coast of texas. janice dean is live in the weather center. how strong is don? >> reporter: a 40-mile-per-hour sustained wind.

can we get trebek on? he would be fantastic. hemmer time. all right. let's take a look at it and we'll talk about how we need to get him on "jeopardy." he would be awesome. this is don. a tiny storm in comparison to the tropical storms we have seen the last several years. but because don is a tiny storm it could intensify quicker. and we have plenty of gulf moisture. this very warm for the taking as don makes progression towards the texas coastline. we are starting to see more thunderstorm activity. so strengthening is likely within the next 24 hours. there are your tahir sharif models we look at in terms of our cone of uncertainty. anywhere from brownsville up towards galveston. we this this will and moderate to strong tropical storm as it

makes landfall saturday night into sunday morning. as we get closer to the 11:00 eastern advisory we'll let you know. by this could be a good news story especially if the storm stays a strong tahir sharif. look at drought. over 70% of texas into exceptional drought. so they need the moisture. hopefully this is a good news story and don won't affect anyone tremendously. that would be great. alisyn: janice, thanks so much. we'll start the "jeopardy" campaign. bill: we expect a critical vote on boehner's debt plan in the house. does the speaker have the votes to pass it? while we go to commercial break go to our web site foxnews.com, click on "the most read" to be. read" tab.

there is a lot of interest in the debt. map

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call now or log on to childrensdiabetesfoundation.org. bill: 10:00 a.m., the nation's capital, a "fox news alert," a new hour brings new drama to the debt crisis in america's financial security. we're awaiting white house reaction as house republicans meeting at the moment, work to advance the boehner debt bill. a key vote expected today on that. also, picking up, count down to a credit rating downgrade another country and in five days uncle sam's debt could force the treasury to choose who gets paid and who does not. whole new hour as we get closer by the day, good morning, i'm bill hemmer, welcome back here and good morning to you. alisyn: good morning, bill, great to be with you. it is a craitical day and the boehner bill main point would cut $917 billion in spending

over the course of ten years and raise the debt limit $900 billion and there are no tax hikes in it. bill: bill today be the day washington moves closer to a deal or even moves further apart? wendell goler, north lawn of the white house, leading our coverage. what does the white house say about the vote in the house today. >> reporter: they'd have you believe it is a political exercise and the president's advisors recommended that he veto the bill and last night, all 53 democrats in the senate sent boehner a letter saying they would not vote for it. it raises the debt ceiling enough to last six months and in a sense compare it with boehner's assertion that the deficit cutting plan should not contain tax hikes because tax hikes could not pass the house but republicans say 6 months is about an average extension of this debt ceiling, and, yesterday, white house press secretary jay carney repeated the obvious.

>> time is running out. we need to come together, now. we have only... it is only a matter of days, before the august 2nd deadline. and, while at midnight, august 2nd we don't turn into pumpkins, we do as a country lose our borrowing authority. for the first time in our history. and that would be a very bad thing. >> reporter: republicans believe if they pass boehner's bill in the house it has a chance in the senate and, if it passes the senate, the president will not dare veto it. speaker boehner told his members yesterday, let really, get your act in line and back to plan. bill? bill: or your rear in gear! wendell, listen, there might not be a default ultimately but there the could be a downgrade, even if you get a deal, right? >> because the decision on the spending cuts, even in boehner's plan, aren't likely to be enough to satisfy the markets. boehner's plan and reid's plan

both put off the decision on significant spending cuts, for a bipartisan congressional commission to make, in the next 6 months or so and boehner's plan ties a second extension of the debt ceiling, to that decision making. but, yesterday, republican senator bob corker said that is only about half as much deficit reduction as the ratings agencies want. here's a bit of what he said. >> all of us in the body should be pressing the leaders on both sides of the aisle, to at least present a scorable package that is scorable and real in the area of $4 trillion, or, depending on what you decide to do with the package, but if you voted for a package, that was less than that, you would be casting a vote to raise the debt ceiling, but, at the same time, probably, cast or country into a situation where we are downgraded. >> reporter: the markets have been down all but today, this

week, a sign that investors were not particularly optimistic, congress would make it. bill? bill: wendell... buckle up! it will be a wild ride today, wendell goler at the white house, alisyn with more. alisyn: are you telling him to get his rear in gear? all right, the war of words in washington is in full swing at the moment. last night two powerful republican senators spoke to sean hannity and they say it is the democrats standing in the way of a debt deal. >> the problem is our senate colleagues and the president want to tax more and spend more and not less and reject anything you send toward them that actually reduces spending and would change the debt course of america. bill: it starts with the budget and the senate democrats have not passed a budget since april 29th of 2009, 819 days, that is why we are here and we have seen this incredible run-up in spending, the last couple of years since the president took office and you talked a little

about the economic record and, you look at the debts gone up 35%, unemployment up 18% and health care costs up 19% and gas prices are up 100% and that is his record. alisyn: on the flip side democratic senate majority leader harry reid weighing in from his corner calling the debt plan coming out of the house today a, quote, big, wet kiss for the right wing. bill: and meanwhile prominent members of the tea party movement turning their criticism, some of them, to speaker boehner and calling for him to resign. tea party nation founder writes, we need a speaker who is a leader and someone with courage an vision and boehner has none of those qualities and he is not a leader and despite the talk there are tea party backed freshmen, coming up publicly in defense of speaker boehner. we'll see how many go for it. alisyn: if congress fails to raise the debt ceiling the white house has to make tough decisions about who gets paid and who doesn't and millions of checks, the big is, medicare and

social security, the sole source of income for so many people, could be at stake and here's white house press secretary jay carney. >> it is a sophie's choice, right? who do you save? who do you pay? that is an impossible situation the country never faced. and should never face, if congress does what it was elected to do, and does its job. alisyn: is that overstating the case? fox business network's peter barnes joins us from washington. peter, what about this? who would get the checks if they don't reach a deal? >> reporter: it would be a very serious cash crunch, starting next tuesday, alisyn, and for weeks, the president and his deputies have declined to discuss possible contingency plans for prioritizing government payments, if there is no increase in the debt ceiling, but, late yesterday, the treasury department finally announced it will provide more information about that as we get closer to august 2nd. now, in august, the treasury will take in $172 billion in tax

revenues. but, it owes more than $300 billion next month. and that is a short fall of more than $130 billion. about a 40% short fall, so, the administration likely will have to start prioritizing payment. here's one scenario from the bipartisan policy center, and calls this the "protect the safety net" scenario. no matter what, interest on the debt gets paid first. $29 billion, in august. gotta protect america's aaa credit rating and the treasury would likely pay $49 billion for social security benefits in august, and $50 billion, for medicare and medicaid, and, $13 billion in unemployment benefits, and, then some other smaller bills, alisyn. alisyn: who does not get paid in this scenario? >> reporter: well with the $134 billion short fall the policy center says the treasury might decide not to pay $32 billion it owes next month to vendors at the pentagon.

$14 billion in federal salaries and benefits, $4 billion in tax refunds, and, a bunch of other obligations including $74 billion basically for operating most of the rest of the government. so, we're talking about potentially a government shut down. alisyn? alisyn: yeah, people will not happy if their tax refunds and other things are not paid. here's the situation when it comes to social security. the debt ceiling deadline was set for august 2nd because of the huge amount of social security checks set to go out august 3rd. and, last month alone the treasury department mailed out 56 million checks and on average, each was worth more than $1,000. i hope you have your calculator out. you can do that math. meanwhile, the fight over the debt brings us to "america's newsroom," web poll today, how concerned are you, if the u.s. government is given a downgrade? tell us what you think about this on our home page,

foxnews.com/americasnewsroom and we'll bring you the results throughout the show. bill: thousands of those again yesterday. the women accusing dsk, dominique strauss-khan of sexual assault, is facing the public for the first time. the new york city hotel housekeeper standing by her story, despite question about her credibility. claiming that dsk, the former head of the international monetary fund, attacked her snide of her hotel room in new york. rick leventhal is live in brooklyn. what is going on there today? >> reporter: bill, they are getting ready for the news conference, beginning less than two hours from now inside the christian cultural center in brooklyn and it will be nifissatou diallo's first public appearance, and she spoke to "newsweek" and abc but today according to her attorneys she'll thank her supporters and appear with community and religious leaders and, one or both of them may discuss yesterday's meeting with prosecutors, where attorneys for both sides spent nearly 8 hours with a translator, listening to phone calls, between nifissatou diallo and a friend incarcerated

in arizona. early reports suggested that she told the friend that she could make money off the case and the lawyer says that that is not true. >> for the last several hours, we have been upstairs, listening to that tape. and that tape shows that the victim never said the words, he has a lot of money, and i know what to do. >> reporter: well the lawyer says in fact the friend called nifissatou diallo and not the other way around and the friend brought up money and not her and she quickly shut him down and they say her description of the alleged assault to the friend is consistent with what he told investigators the day before. bill: i'm out of time. is she going to talk at the press conference? >> reporter: we don't know if she'll answer question but we'll have plenty for her if she will. bill: a lawyer's nightmare, we'll see, rick leventhal. in brooklyn, alisyn, what is

next. alisyn: america's top brass says usama bin laden's al qaeda is pretty wiped out, but there is an al-qaeda 2.0, how it threatens our security. bill: and chaos in tinseltown, how a simple text message sparked a hollywood riot. alisyn: and g.o.p. presidential candidate ron paul not mincing words on the debt ceiling deadline. the congressman tells us why the boehner bill will not get his vote. >> august 2nd, i think is a fictitious date. there are already many, many billions, $75 billion over the debt limit, already. and so, i think the august 2nd date is more related to the individuals who have trips planned in august, and want to clean up the mess. ♪

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right past the microphone. like yesterday. speaker boehner, eric cantor, kevin mccarthy, no comment for the moment. so the meeting has broken up and we await a vote on the floor of the house today on the boehner bill. stay tuned for that. another "fox news alert" now, a stunning news out of norway, following up on the massacre from last friday. the chief security investigator now says that anders brevik carried out this attack and planned it for ten years. says he's a lone wolf, sociopath who kept the plan to himself for a decade. quote, a unique case, a unique person. he is total evil. anders brevik claimed that he carried out this as part of a larger network, modern day crusaders, plotting a revolution against a multi-cultural europe and that there were other cells ready to strike and the lead investigator, moments ago saying they have found no signs of

collaboration with any other people or cells in norway or the rest of europe. it is breaking news out of norway. a unique person, total evil. alisyn? alisyn: more on terrorism now, al qaeda, 2.0. how the head of u.s. special operations forces labeled the new terror threat that america faces. warning despite the death of bin laden and the hobbling of his terror network there is a growing danger from all versions of al qaeda and the special-ops chief predicts the fight to defeat these offshoots could last for years. peter brookes is a former cia officer and senior fellow on national security affairs at the heritage foundation. hi, peter. >> reporter: good morning, alisyn. alisyn: what does the al qaeda 2.0 version look like? >> well, i think the admiral in his comments laid it out pretty clearly and talked about, we're not worried about the al qaeda in pakistan because of the death of bin laden though we can't

write off ayman al-zawahiri, the new leader of al qaeda in the pakistani tribal areas but he's worried about yemen and al qaeda in the arabian peninsula and also, somalia, across the waterways there where you have al-shabab. so, al qaeda has been morphing for quite some time, since 9/11 and i think he's saying the threats are moving in that direction and that he thinks and the administration believes that al qaeda, the one we think of from 9/11 purposes, usama bin laden and ayman al-zawahiri, may be on its death bed. alisyn: and how, in this new 2.0 version, how much of a threat is anwar al-awlaki. >> he's dangerous, he was here in the u.s. on 9/11 and left the u.s. and went to yemen and, is responsible probably for at least three major attacks or plots in the u.s., including the detroit under wear bombing.

including the fort hood assaults, attacks and the ink cartridge capers, where they tried to modify ink printer cartridges as bombs and is considered probably the most dangerous al qaeda operative today and, already the arabian peninsula is the most dangerous and active of al qaeda and appear to be working with fellow terrorists across the way in somalia, by the name of al-shabab. alisyn: and, i read the predictions are the newer model of al qaeda will be more westernized. what does that mean? more homegrown terrorists? >> that is what they are looking for. usama bin laden even said, himself, he didn't want to have a similar operation undertaken for 9/11 where people came from abroad as essentially he wants to look for people who might be already in place and do not have to pass through security portals, such as immigration or customs and they can undertake

these sorts of attacks like fort hood, texas a few years ago. so, this is something... and you have to remember, anwar al-awlaki has a lot of understanding of the american psyche and american mindset and he speaks english well and can propagandize well and is considered to be particularly dangerous and usama bin laden perhaps didn't understand us as well as anwar al-awlaki does. >> we appreciate your expertise in the area. thanks for coming in. >> thank you. bill: we are getting word on breaking news, about the another potential terror plot, fort hood, texas. now, we have heard about this for an hour and 15 minutes and working through details trying to nail it down. exclusive information in a moment with jennifer griffin live at the pentagon, we will have that for you, in moments, right after this. are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement

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bill: we're piecing together what we are learning out of texas. a "fox news alert," details on a possible plot to attack fort hood, that is the same texas post where a gunman carried out a massacre, two years ago, and just like them, the suspect wears a military uniform, and there might be more than one. jennifer griffin live at the pentagon, i know you have been working on this for hours now. what can we report, jennifer? >> reporter: what i can tell you from law enforcement and army sources, that nasser abdo, a private from fort campbell, kentucky who went awol july 4th weekend was basically found to be passing back and forth from gun stores to buy ammunition and explosives materials and that raised the alert in texas near

fort hood where authorities were contacted by the gun store owners and when they looked into it they realized that he was missing from fort campbell, a little background on him. he was a... about to be deployed to afghanistan. on his first dotour and applied for conscientious objector status and his superiors rejected that and an army deputy assistant secretary of the army review board overturned that and he was found to have child pornography on his government computer and were looking into that charge when he went awol july 4th and he was found in texas recently, and he's in the custody of the killeen police department now, we are told and what has authorities concerned is when they found him, we're told from two sources, he had some sort of explosive materials in a backpack as well as jihadist materials and, given the proximity to killeen, to fort hood, there was concern

that there could be a looming, impending attack on fort hood, somewhat similar to that terrible november 5th, 2009 attack, when major nadal killed 13 soldiers on fort hood base, bill. bill: this was on the eve of his first deployment to afghanistan. and he goes awol. and that was back on the fourth of july. and now has been arrested? or has been picked up, i should say, in texas? >> reporter: he has been arrested and is in custody, yes. bill: was he working with anyone else, jennifer? >> reporter: right now, we... all we know from police authorities down in killeen is that he is under arrest. there are some indications that they are -- federal authorities are looking into connections into other individuals and at this point in time, they... authorities have one person in custody, nasser jason abdo with the first brigade come pat team

and he was supposed to deploy to afghanistan and applied for conscientious objector status and haves that was rejected an overruled and then they started investigating child porn on his government issued computer. bill: and, nadal hasan killed 13 and wounded 30 and, rocked not just texas but the entire military then, jennifer griffin, thank you, exclusive details on the story breaking now at the pentagon. more when we get it right here, alisyn. alisyn: house republicans, as we told you you, just leaving a closed-door meeting as they work to advance the boehner debt bill but none of the g.o.p. leadership stepped up to the microphone, more on what our capitol hill sources are learning about their conversations, as we await the key vote. bill: and this is not your typical movie premier now, is it? the riots sparked by a lonely little tweeted. >> i'm not going to let them tell me what to do, where to go

and where i can't and can stand.

bill: here we go with a fox news alert now, awaiting reaction to the boehner bill, you should get that within the hour when the white house holds its daily briefing. the president has said his advisers would tell him to veto it, but a top democrat says it will not even get that far. we'll see. >> it's time for the house republicans to face facts. they're struggling to save a tea

party bill that's not a balanced solution. at the end of the day, it doesn't matter if speaker boehner's bill passes or fails. the way to resolve this crisis is to ignore the extremists and meet in the middle of the road. bill: that's what they're saying publicly, but behind closed doors it could be a whole different situation. the boehner bill needs to pass the house. bill pascal out of new jersey sits on the budget committee. good morning, sir. >> good morning. bill: it's been several months since we have spoken. will you back the boehner bill? >> oh, i think the republicans will have enough votes to pass the boehner bill. i will vote no, and i have already voted, as you know, several months ago for a clean, what i would call a clean increase of the debt, the credit of the united states. so, um, i'm going to vote against this one. bill: well, how many democrats will vote yes on the boehner bill? >> i don't think there'll be too many, if there are any.

bill: you had five vote in favor of cut, cap and balance. >> yeah. you had nine republicans who voted against that, by the way, remember? bill: oh, i sure do, i sure do. but you're a no. >> yes. bill: why is this bill not good enough in. >> well, when you look at what mr. boehner's talking about and mr. reid are talking about and you put them side by side, bill, they're pretty much the same except for two situations. one is that they, because six months, seven months we'll be back here doing the same thing, this does not give comfort to the markets. the rating agencies have already said that they would downgrade the united states in its credit rating from aaa to aa. i don't think that's good. i think it really will instigate and increase interest rates regardless of how we use our credit card. bill: well -- >> besides the -- bill: i apologize about the interruption, but the idea there is to take the next six months

and really start trimming and cutting and make congress vote on it again so you would have structural change in entitlement programs that we all know cannot be sustained. >> well, we know what can't be sustained, and that is the republican budget which also pass inside the house. the republican budget, better known as the ryan budget, increases the deficit, the debt of this country by another $6 trillion in ten years. that is the most hypocritical budget i've ever had to vote on one way or the other, and i've seen some real doozies, democratic and republican. so what are we talking about here? he wants to have this committee that he's put together, and there's a committee, also, in reid's proposal to come back and give us recommendations on entitlements. well, we already have recommendations on entitlements within the health care bill. one-third of it was medicare and medicaid, and it dealt very

specifically how we're going to lower health costs which have a lot to do with budgets not only in the united states, but all over the world. bill: that they do, but both proposals would involve republicans and democrats, it would not just be stacked to one side. >> well, of course. and it should be. bill: i see a compromise coming out of this. >> so do i. bill: i see the republicans dropping the balanced budget amendment, and i see democrats in the senate dropping any requirement to raise new taxes. >> well, there are no requirements in the reid proposal. there is no situation like that, bill, in the reid proposal. there's no increase in any revenue in the reid proposal. bill: right. and there's the compromise. that's my point. so you pass it in the house, you go to committee, reconciliation in the senate, you put the two bills together, and you've got a deal by tuesday possibly. >> well, if -- we could have a possible deal by tuesday. the only thing, i don't want to come back six months from now and have this same debate again. i don't think that does anything

good for the american people or the markets itself, do you? bill: i'm asking the questions. >> okay. [laughter] bill: i guess we'll see together, won't we? the. >> yes, we will, and i think that we need a compromise. i've been saying that all along. neither party is privy to virtue, so those idealogues in the republican party have to wake up and understand that. bill: thanks for coming back, bill pascrell, democrat out of new jersey. enjoy the weather down there. alisyn: new jobless numbers out this morning and for the first time in almost fo months less than 400,000 people filing for first-time benefits, but for millions of jobless americans the situation, of course, remains bleak. in the african-american community, the unemployment crisis is bordering on great depression levels. john roberts is live in atlanta with more. apparently, the divide is getting bigger, john. >> reporter: it's a vast gulf

now, allison. the urban league this week found that this recession has literally erased 30 years of economic gains among african-americans. we found the problem was particularly acute in the city of charlotte, north carolina, where now 20% of african-americans are out of work. >> our last day was july 29, 2009, i've been out of work two years. >> reporter: derek fox is the face of an unemployment rate that has reached deep into charlotte's black middle class. since he was laid off, he has contacted more than a thousand companies looking for work. so far not even a nibble. >> i got out of school, didn't get the jobs i was looking for. then i went back, got an mba degree, you know, and i'm almost like, wow, was this really worth it? >> reporter: charlotte was the promised land for well educated blacks or those who wanted to climb the ladder by improving their education, but the financial crisis, recession and government budget cuts hit african-american workers particularly hard. vanessa parker got her

bachelor's in business while working at ibm, but instead of moving up, ibm moved out. now she works a survival job for minimum wage. >> we want the american dream. we want to work, be able to take care of our homes and children. >> reporter: african-americans have historically had about double the national unemployment rate, but the numbers in if charlotte are particularly shocking says patrick graham, president of the local urban league. >> it is heartbreaking in the sense that you watch people who are viable, who have talent who can't necessarily find the job opportunity they need. >> reporter: and keep in mind, too, that charlotte is going to be the showcase city for the democratic national convention next year. to illustrate how teachly things have -- deeply things have cut in, the average net worth for african-american households is $5700, comparing to a white net worth on the average of

$113,000. alisyn: it's so troubling. john roberts, thanks for bringing that to our attention. bill: tweet, sounds so innocent, doesn't it? it got ugly in tinseltown, police in riot gear had to respond when an unruly crowd turned out for a movie premiere in hollywood, an electronic music festival notorious for recreational drug use. police stepped in a significant way when folks refused to step in. >> just here for the music, and i guess it didn't happen. >> i got shot on the arms and the head, it department hurt as bad as -- it didn't hurt as bad as i thought it would. bill: the movie has a lot more promotion that be it did before -- than it did before. happening right now on the noor of the senate, harry reid has a new message for house republicans. what he is saying, and we'll get

republican response on that. texas congressman, presidential candidate ron paul is our guest live to talk about that. alisyn: plus, a new tribute to the gipper is ready to be unveiled. there it is. and when you head autothe door to go to the pool to cool off, you don't have to leave fox news at home. go to our web site, foxnews.com/mobile. download the fox news app there so you can connect with us when you're not in front of your television. [ male announcer ] this...is the network --

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bill: here's a crazy sight for folks outside of pittsburgh, a blimp crashing in the woods. turns out that's no ordinary blimp right there, that's a remote controlled, unmanned army blimp launched out of ohio. the maker, lockheed martin, saying they had to bring it down after the recon blimp was unable to climb to the desired altitude. looks pretty good before, doesn't it? alisyn: before and after. >> senate democrats are playing

with fire here, and it's hard to conclude that they're doing it for any other reason than politics. so i would urge our friends on the other side of the aisle this morning to rethink their position and join republicans in preventing default. alisyn: that was senator mitch mcconnell just speaking on the senate floor, and senate majority leader harry reid also just speaking saying he's willing to listen to republicans' ideas and is urging them to compromise. let's find out what texas congressman ron paul has to say about all of this. he is a 2012 republican presidential candidate. good morning, congressman. >> good morning. alisyn: i want to start with the boehner bill which will cut $917 billion from the deficit over the next decade. will you vote for it today? >> no, i won't. because, you know, those cuts aren't real. it says that we're going to cut a trillion dollars out of next year's budget, but that's from the cbo baseline, so actually there are no cuts. so i couldn't vote for that, and i'm not going to vote to raise

the debt limit. i think that, you know, to pretend that the balanced budget amendment is going to solve our problems, and i don't like that supercongress. so i'm an easy no on this. alisyn: so, congressman, let me just ask you, you would rather default than raise the debt ceiling? >> no. you don't have to default. i mean, right now we're $200 billion over the debt limit, and they have found ways to make those payments. but, no, default is coming. the only argument that's going on now is how to default, not send the checks out or just print the money. in all countries our size, we with always print the money. so, i mean, the bills will be paid -- alisyn: okay, i mean, but just so i understand, in order to pay social security, medicare, unemployment benefits you would just print more money? >> no. i'm arguing that that's what they're going to end up doing if they don't just stop the spending. why don't we, you know, right now with boehner's proposal it's going to be $1 trillion next year than it was last year. so why don't we just freeze

everything? everybody get what they got last year. why shouldn't they be happy? we're in a crisis. but they're not going to do that. they're going to raise the debt limit, and then they're going to print the money, and then they'll default by inflation, and that's much more dangerous than facing up to the facts of what's happening today. so, and the market will determine, right now the market's not all that skittish. interest rates are low, people are still buying dollars, but the prediction of the dollar really going down and defaulting is the fact that gold price is so high, and it's been devalued 50 percent many these last three years -- in these last three years. alisyn: mr. boehner, as you know, needs 217 house votes to pass this bill today, so yesterday he issued a blunt warning to those of you who are going to say no to, basically, get your rear in gear. he said it a little differently on laura ingraham's radio show, let's hear an present -- excerpt from that.

>> mr. speaker, is it true that you told some of the republican members this morning that you these to get your a-word in line behind this debt ceiling bill? >> i sure did. listen, it is time to do what is doable. alisyn: okay. so there you hear your speaker saying it is time to do what is doable, would you be able to take one for the team even though you're philosophically opposed? >> why should i make it worse? the bankruptcy is here, it's just a matter of how we're going to pay for it, and i think just adding more debt and permitting the congress to continue to spend is much worse than defaulting by printing money. therefore, i would say the best option right now that the american people could understand and say nobody gets cut anything, let's just give everybody what they got last year, and actually that cuts a trillion dollars out of proposed budget increases. that, to me, seems to be pretty logical, and you'd solve your problem.

the president has every right to pay the bills as they come in the. he doesn't have to default on anything. he might have to delay some. he's not going to delay payments on the bond market or the military or social security, and if we could send a strong signal that we're going to get our house in order, believe me, the confidence would come back again, and we wouldn't have this -- this is all posturing. you know, boehner has a tough job. i don't know how he's going to pull it off. but what is he up against? he's up against the democrats in the senate and the president's demagoguing it, you know, and not even giving him a chance. so i think both sides are failing to understand that the country is bankrupt, there will be a default. the only debate that is going on is how you default, and i vote for, you know, stopping the spending so that we don't have to print all the money. alisyn: all right. congressman ron paul, you are on the record as saying you will not vote for the boehner bill today. we appreciate you coming in and sharing that with us. >> thank you.

bill: he's right about the markets so far today, anyway -- alisyn: where are we? bill: the dow is up almost 35 points. i don't think it's been in negative territory all day long. you heard the plea from the ceos, from the wangs saying -- the banks, saying get it done now. we await the boehner bill vote throughout the day today. checking in with jenna lee today. what's coming up on "happening now," jenna? one little guess here. jenna: one little guess? well, we'll ask you about that. bill: we're waiting on the vote, right? jenna: we're waiting on the vote and picking up off of the great conversation allison just had with the congressman. our capitol hill senior producer says today could be the biggest day in the political career of john boehner. we are running out of time. we're going to talk to senators conrad, portman, hutchison, also brand new polling on the debt crisis, scott rasmussen's going to be here we're also going to hear from the white house.

go to foxnews.com/happeningnow, we like to chat with our viewers during the show, and we certainly have a lot to talk about. bill: jenna, thanks. what were nearly three dozen heavily-armed mexican soldiers doing in texas? they weren't looking for a good barbecue. our next guest says this happens a lot more often than many would like to admit. looking good! you lost some weight. you noticed! these clothes are too big, so i'm donating them. how'd you do it? eating right, whole grain. [ female announcer ] people who choose more whole grain tend to weigh less than those who don't. multigrain cheerios... five whole grains, 110 calories. i go to e-trade and tap into the power of revolutionary mobile apps to trade wherever. whenever. life isn't fully experienced sitting idly by. neither is investing. [ birds chirping ]

bill: there was an illegal border crossing of a very different sort, nearly three dozen mexican soldiers packed into four different humvees ending up on america's side of the border near donna, texas,

and now u.s. border agents saying they were sent back to mexico after they were confused about where the border was. >> i couldn't answer whether they were armed or not, but i can tell you that they were conducting their work that they do as military, and somehow they lost sight of the boundary line and entered u.s. territory. bill: so what about all this? chad swede, chief of staff for former homeland security, michael cher to have group. explanation is what here? >> well, obviously, the fundamental job of any nation is to secure its borders x in this case we've made it clear to the mexican government that the uncoordinated incursions are unacceptable. i think here we've got to remember, though, that our brave partner, president calderon, is fighting an incredibly courageous war, and he's moving his military to where the enemy is, on our border. as a result, occasionally our guys in hot pursuit go into

their territory, and their guys come into ours. bill: so they may have crossed the line, but then the process plays out where they report to the u.s. soldiers who are the border agents in this case. >> exactly. bill: but do you know of any case, chad, where the mexican military would chase a suspect across the border into texas? is. >> absolutely. when i was chief of dhs, there were, unfortunately, several cases where in hot pursuit this happens. remember, in the desert there's often no clear line in the sand. this case, unfortunately, it looks like they went across a bridge, but it was a new bridge, so they may not have known. the good news here is that the border patrol immediately responded, apprehended and followed the protocol. we shouldn't let this incident, however, distract us from the shared objective with mexico which is the fundamental objective of disrupting, dismantling and defeating these drug cartels. bill: when is our relationship, then, with the mexican military? is. >> it's extremely strong, and

they have conducted one of the most courageous battles in the history against these drug cartels on par almost with what colombia did. however, right now in order to defeat them we have to continue to do joint operations on our side of the boarder and their side, and as we continue to press hard to crush them, it's going to require constant communication and contact and additional support through what's called the merita initiative where the u.s. supplies weapons and other types of technology. bill: that drug war is a significant war in mexico. well over 30,000 killed over the past six years, and it continues today. chad, thank you. chertoff group, washington. >> thank you. alisyn: fox news alert for you now because we are awaiting new reaction from the white house to boehner's bill. the president's advisers say they think he should veto it, will the president? ♪ i'm your venus ♪ i'm your fire

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alisyn: president ronald reagan will stand tall inside a california park. well, his likeness, that is. an artist has just finished sculpting a statue of the gipper, and it's expected to go up in a newport beach park by year's end. the screw upture has been -- sculpture has been fully modeled in clay, but it is now in the waxing process, and after a mold is made, the statue will be cast in bronze. >> reagan was beyond a political party that just as you celebrate lincoln or we could celebrate kennedy or any of these known leaders of our country that made a substantial, positive mark in the growth of our nation, then it's appropriate to celebrate. alisyn: the statue is slated to be dedicated to honor the centennial of reagan's birth. bill: that's an honor. i'm sure it'll look great too. alisyn: in bronze, i'm sure it will. bill: we've had a busy